My first week-end in France

Bonjour!


I just got home from school and have some time to write. My first week-end here was crazy, to say the least! Here's how it went!


*Vendredi*
Friday morning, Matthieu and I walked down to my school where I will be attending language courses. There was some paperwork and registration that we needed to do before classes started on lundi (Monday). The receptionist/administrator helped us with what we needed and mostly was talking to Matthieu, in French of course. Then, she began asking me some questions. In french. I totally froze and couldnt find the right words. I was fumbling and just kept looking to Matthieu for help. What I didnt know was that she was testing my skills. So Matthieu couldnt help me. I was completely embarrassed and Im sure, as red as a tomato. I was so relieved when the questions stopped and she and Matthieu began talking again. I have to remind myself that I was completely jet-lagged and out-of-my-mind tired and that it was okay that I did poorly. And Matthieu reassured me that I passed my first exam. Not really. 
So after we finished up at school, I was supposed to meet up with Florence and her sister to do some shopping with them. Matthieu called them and then explained that I would have to take the Metro to meet them since they were already out in another area of the city. He gave me some change for the ticket and then showed me on my little map where I was heading. He said, Bonne chance! And then he headed off to work! 
I was completely terrified because up until a few weeks ago, I had never even ridden Bart alone. The first time was when I went out to SF for my Visa appointment and then again when I went to pick up it up. So, I was super scared. I got into the Metro Station and couldnt figure out the machine to buy a ticket. A metro employee came to help me and voila! I had my first metro ticket! I walked down to the platform and then realized I was on the wrong side! Oopsies! I had to walk back up and around to the other platform that would take me in the right direction. I got to the other side and the machine wouldnt take my ticket! I didnt know that once you put it in once, thats it. If anyone has ever ridden Bart before, you know what I mean. Meanwhile there are people behind me waiting to go through. So the girl in front of me told me in french to crawl under the rotating bars. Talk about looking like a silly little American girl who doesnt know what she's doing! Oops. 
I met up with Florence and her sister and we walked around a lot and went into tons of cute lil' boutique that all were very expensive! In every store, I found a chair and sat down. Now, all my girlfriends know that I can out-shop any of them. This just clearly shows how exhausted I was from my trip over. I never pass up an opportunity to shop. And in Paris? Um hello! But I was so out of it. 
We went to lunch at a little bistro of some sort. I ordered a burger but it just wasnt the same. I miss In n' Out! And interestingly, Diet Coke isnt Diet Coke here. Its Coca Light. So I order Coca Light or Coca Zero. And neither taste like Diet Coke so I was a little disappointed.


*Samedi*
Saturday, Matthieu and Florence needed to drive out to the new house to discuss some plans and also enroll Antton in his new creche (school/daycare). I was planning on going but I woke up feeling terribly nauseous and decided to stay home. I ended up sleeping all day long. Trying to catch up with the time change. So by saturday night I was feeling better and had no problems going to sleep again that night. 


*Dimanche*
Sunday morning, I woke up feeling better and was so excited for church. I got ready and ate a delicious breakfast of fresh warm croissants that Matthieu went out at bought at a boulangier down the street. How French, right? I walked to the Metro and made it to my stop. The only problem was finding the church building from the metro stop. I walked in several different directions until I found it finally. Just walking into the courtyard, I felt incredibly relieved and a little more at ease. I was greeted by a nice couple who directed me to class. Almost as soon as I sat down, I was handed a pair of funky headphones. I put them on and to my surprise a sister was translating the lesson into English! Yay! The lesson was great and then and even bigger surprise was that there was an English-speaking Sunday School class! Hallelujah! The class was mostly of tourists passing through with a few people who actually lived there. I met another au pair named Amber, who has been here in January and we sat together with her host family in Sacrament Meeting. I heard four different languages and felt the Spirit so strongly. Again I was able to have the headphones to hear the talks being given and was very grateful to the Elder who was translating. He had a little bit of hard time but even still I wouldnt have gotten anything out of the meeting without him. I got extremely lost on the way home from church and dont know how long I wandered around but somehow I made it home okay.  
Sunday night was AMAZING! Amber invited me to dinner at a members house and it just happened that on this particular Sunday, the other guests at dinner were all about my age. Amber said it was very unusual for there to be this many young adults. She said its usually families, couples, etc. We ate a fantastic meal-cheese and fruit, salad, fresh bread, a delicious roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. The whole time Im thinkin to myself, If every Sunday is like this, I will be okay! I met so many cool people and loved hearing about their traveling horror stories, their missions in France, etc and it was all very comforting for me to see that Im not the only crazy girl who packed up and left home to go have a European adventure. Sunday was incroyable. 
Thats about all the time I have for now! More to come!